Ah, Swift. Like a trusty old Volvo that hasn’t had an oil change since the Nixon administration, Swift turns a sprightly 50 this year. For a payments system mainly used in $190 trillion of cross-border transactions annually, it’s time for a makeover.
Stablecoins have the elegant and effective virtual railways of banknotes globally, at least for B2B cross-border transactions. While banks commonly cling to legacy systems, stablecoins quietly (and predictably) hold the virtual go-to address for global commerce. Significant expansion expected in 2025 and beyond.
Swift served its purpose, but like your parents’ VHS collection, it’s only compelling in retrospect. Since stablecoins provide successful and predictable transactions, businesses nonetheless have a tool to avoid wasting 3% (and their sanity) every time they move cash across borders. Happy birthday, Swift. You will have 1973.
Bitcoin skeptics have had a tough year. ETFs came first. Then Trump turned it into a political game. And now, rumors about a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the United States have sent “shock waves” through the markets.
Large buyers – from institutions to entire sovereign funds – have been absorbing the asset’s limited supply. Meanwhile, Bitcoin infrastructure is finally coming through and growing. The Lightning Network, once the Bitcoin nerds’ pet project, has emerged as the killer app. Instant, low-cost payments? Yes, please.
Price predictions used to be the domain of the insane. But here we are at $500,000 per piece. If you sold for $5,000, you’re probably browsing LinkedIn in a contradictory way right now. Meanwhile, new business models are thriving, based on Bitcoin as a virtual currency, a concept that, ironically, proves almost too undeniable to succeed.
The AI fever is over, at least for freelancers. The smart news? Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI are having a blast consolidating their dominance. Meanwhile, independent AI startups have learned a hard lesson: It’s hard to stand out when a trillion-dollar company is right by your side, in a position to move full speed ahead.
Capital keeps pouring in, but most of it feels like it’s throwing darts at the board. Derivative and specialized programs have an opportunity. Fully independent AI companies?Not so much.
The industry’s knowledge base remains incredibly shallow, leading to questionable valuations and incomplete business cases. Bottom line: We’re still in the “wild guessing” phase when it comes to making an investment in AI. Expect more consolidation, fewer moonshots, and a few poor souls who know their AI “startup” is just a complicated macro in Excel.
Major tech behemoths are on a tear. They are building 100 data centers per year, each, for the next decade. Why? Because videos, computing demand, AI workloads, and your 15th re-watch of Friends are all driving explosive traffic growth.
The biggest beneficiaries here are not just the flashy tech giants, but also the peak players: processor manufacturers, cooling formula suppliers and the unsung heroes of knowledge base architecture, etc. If you think Nvidia’s rise was impressive, this: 70% of its sales come from knowledge centers. . . . .
In the modern digital economy, hosting isn’t optional.
Remember the 2020-2022 investment boom? Neither do VCs – it’s all a blur of Zoom calls and questionable cap tables. Now we’re seeing the aftermath: too many startups, too small, too slow, and in some cases, downright stagnant.
Enter: the roll-up strategy. PE firms are licking their chops, consolidating verticals and building larger, more stable companies out of subscale startups. It’s Darwinism for the tech world, where only the strong – or the well-rolled – survive.
With billions of PE dry powder waiting to be deployed, they will dominate the consolidation games. This is not the death of tech startups; It is only the least and best.
Here’s the inconvenient truth: 38% of all fraud is now AI-driven of some sort. That’s right – fraudsters have AI tools that can mimic your voice, perfect your grammar, and scam your grandmother before breakfast.
Phishing as a Service (PhaaS) is now a truth that is democratizing virtual crime. You don’t want technical skills to be a scammer, just a subscription and bad intentions.
The cat-and-mouse game between scammers and cybersecurity professionals will continue, but let’s face it: AI has given criminals a terrifying improvement. Welcome to the AI arms race, where your identity and your bank account are at stake.
The IPO market has been bleak, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. European unicorns like Klarna, Bolt, and Revolut are ready to take the plunge, and their public listings will mean significant liquidity pay-outs for early investors in startup hubs like Stockholm and Tallinn.
The United States will continue to be the heavyweight of IPOs, but London, eager for relevance, is making a political and monetary effort to attract small-cap companies.
After years of drought, the IPO floodgates may finally open – a welcome event for VCs desperate to recycle capital and a move from TVPI to DPI.
After decades in the shadows, defence tech is now hotter than TikTok dances. Global security concerns and ongoing conflicts have thrust the sector into the spotlight. Defence-tech startups are commanding eye-watering valuations, and defence conferences are massively oversubscribed.
But let’s ask ourselves the uncomfortable question: what happens once the wars are over?Conflict-based valuations are inherently fragile. For now, though, the defensive generation is the queen of the dance, and they’re all dancing.
After years of pouring money into marketing-focused startups with a shelf life of a housefly, venture capitalists are reconsidering their role. No more “spray and pray” technique. Making a thoughtful investment is in fashion.
There’s a renewed focus on solving meaningful problems – climate, health, and global infrastructure – instead of just funding the next food delivery or music app. VCs are rediscovering their purpose as agents of positive change. Call it an existential crisis, but it’s a step in the right direction.
For years, software companies promised low/no-code solutions. In reality, it was all marketing fluff and armies of consultants charging $300/hour to click buttons.
Finally, the dream is here. Powered by AI, software deployment can now be done in a fraction of the time, without the dreaded consultant. The productivity gains will be immense, and despite everything, companies will be able to avoid paying for manual automation. Yes, irony is not lost on us.
As we approach 2025, the generation world is at a crossroads. From the triumph of Bitcoin to the darker uses of AI, from the IPO resurgence to the introspection of venture capital, one thing is clear: the generation and its backers are in favor of a new narrative.
Will they do it? Or will history repeat itself in the form of exuberance, crises and bubbles? Either way, it will be a great adventure.
Make way for 2025. Let it be bold, rational and catastrophic.
One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.
Our network aims to connect others through open and thoughtful conversations. We need our readers to share their perspectives and exchange ideas and facts in one space.
To do this, please comply with the posting regulations in our site’s terms of use. Below we summarize some of those key regulations. In short, civilized.
Your message will be rejected if we realize that it seems to contain:
User accounts will be locked if we become aware that users are engaging in:
So, how can you be a user?
Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.